State

Leland Yee Pleads Guilty To Corruption Charges

SAN FRANCISCO—Former state senator Leland Yee admitted to charges of racketeering and accepted a plea deal with federal prosecutors on Wednesday, July 1 at a federal courthouse in San Francisco. Yee was set to go to trial next month on charges of political corruption, money laundering and gun running. The San Francisco based politician, who previously served on the San Francisco Board of...

San Francisco Water Rights Cut

San Francisco will no longer be allowed to draw water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Image credit Coach Singers Life
SAN FRANCISCO—On Friday,  June 26, the State Water Resources Control Board issued orders cutting San Francisco’s water rights at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The order was sent to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission along with hundreds of farmers in Central Valley. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which lies in Yosemite National Park, is fed water by the Tuolumne River, which in turn...

State Assembly Approves Vaccination Law

canyon news, california state assembly, sb277
SACRAMENTO—On Thursday, June 25, the California State Assembly voted, 41 to 36, to mandate nearly all California school children get vaccinations. Senate Bill 277 puts an end to the parents’ choice of immunizing their children based on religious or personal beliefs. Children entering daycare and public schools must be vaccinated against diseases like measles. According to a statement issued by Senator...

The Old Mint, A Historic Landmark At Risk

SAN FRANCISCO—The 141-year-old Old Mint building at Fifth and Mission Streets has been listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation among the country's top 11 most endangered historical sites. The building has a long, withstanding heritage dating back to 1874 and is affectionately known by many as the Granite Lady for being one of only a few buildings to survive...

Google’s Self Driving Cars Tested On Public Streets

SAN FRANCISCO—While Google has been testing their prototype, "Koala" self-driving cars on the roads of Mountain View for a while, they have recently been spotted during their summer testing. Last month, Google announced that the vehicles were built specifically to drive themselves and that testing would begin on public roads this summer. During the trials, speeds for the cars...

City’s Film Rebate Program Expanded

Photo: Jim Baldwin/Baldwin Production Services SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has agreed to extend the city’s Film Rebate Program through June 2019 and establish a funding limit of $4 million over the four-year period. The program, which was created in 2006, allows film production companies that film in San Francisco to receive a rebate of up to 100 percent...

Highway 4 Shootings Possibly Connected

Highway 4
BAY POINT—Authorities believe that a fatal shooitng on Tuesday, June 23 in Bay Point, might be related to the murder of a man driving on Highway 4 just three days prior. “We, at this time, believe that there may be some relevance between the two shootings,” Captain Dan Hoffman of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement....

Drought Improves Quality Of Beach Water

Baker beach in the Presidio, San Francisco.
SAN FRANCISCO—It has been a record year of improvement for Bay Area beaches, according to the Beach Report Card Survey conducted by Heal the Bay. Heal the Bay is a Santa Monica based environmental non-profit organization dedicated to the health and safety of California's coasts. The organization's Beach Report Card was first published in 1990; it is a comprehensive analysis of water...

Taxi Drivers Protest At Uber Headquarters

Protest against Uber, San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO—Taxi drivers protested at Uber Headquarters on June 22 amidst the 83rd Annual United States Conference of Mayors. With the conference being sponsored by Uber and Lyft this year, protesters congregated at the head office. The rise of start-ups like Uber and Lyft has left many taxi drivers struggling for work twice, and many complaining about Uber and Lyft...

Six Killed In Balcony Collapse

BERKELEY—Thirteen adults fell from a four-story balcony that collapsed at the Library Gardens, an apartment complex on 2020 Kittredge Street near the University of California-Berkeley on June 16. Among the victims, six were killed, and seven were critically injured. Irish students Eoghan Culligan, Lorcan Miller, Niccolai Schuster, Eimear Walsh, and cousins Olivia Burke and Ashley Donohoe were among those killed when the balcony collapsed. The...